Indigenous Consent: A Right Rooted in the Doctrine of Discovery

“Indigenous Consent: A Right Rooted in the Doctrine of Discovery,” an Outcome archive entry by Urszula Piasta Mansfield. The entry belongs to the featured collection and connects readers to scholarship, public history, and organizing around the Doctrine of Discovery, Christian domination, Indigenous sovereignty, law, religion, land, memory, and accountability.

In brief, it addresses Indians being the prior occupants, possess the right to the soil. It cannot be taken from them unless by their free consent…. For readers arriving from the main Doctrine of Discovery site, this post functions as a pointer rather than a replacement for the full Outcome record. The canonical page preserves the complete context, metadata, author information, citation links, media, and neighboring materials in the archive.

The source text highlights terms and contexts including Consent is a fundamental Indigenous right that exists in a reciprocal relationship with all other Indigenous rights. However, the role of consent is especially critical in promoting and protecting Indigenous sovereign and territorial rights. While the above statement appears to recognize and honor that power of Indigenous consent, history soon exposed it as theatrics and mere deceit. By putting a stop to unrestrained settler incursions on Indigenous lands, the federal government used its consolidated power to induce Indigenous consent to massive land cessions, masquerading as treaty agreements. This formal ‘Indian’ policy, guided by the rationale of the Doctrine of Discovery combined with the façade of consensual relations, has laid the. Read the canonical Outcome page for the complete entry.

Canonical link: https://outcome.doctrineofdiscovery.org/featured/essay2/indigenous-consent-right-rooted-doctrine-discovery/

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